Amsterdam is a Dutch treats for travellers

For better or worse, laid-back Amsterdam retains its reputation as Europe's sin city. You can still get your kicks in De Wallen -- better known as the fabled red-light district-- without raising any eyebrows.

But the city is putting a lot of effort into attracting visitors seeking more than just cheap thrills.

Cannabis cafes are closing down and being replaced by restaurants and boutiques, and even the neon lights of De Wallen are dimming, with half the infamous picture-window brothels slated for closure. In fact, for over a year, passersby have been treated to a very different sort of exhibition: instead of scantily clad women, many windows feature mannequins decked out in designer clothing and jewelry.

It's part of an ambitious project called RedLight Fashion District (www.redlightfashionamsterdam.com),a showcase for 16 emerging Dutch fashion designers, as well as the area's first major cultural revitalization project. Likewise, since the beginning of the year, the Red Artists-in-Residence (www.redlightartamsterdam.nl) have been putting on a series of artistic presentations, film screenings and talks inside a collection of former brothels. "It's changed the character of the neighbourhood," says Karlijn Bozon, a spokesperson from HTNK, the fashion consultancy behind the project. "The brothels are still here, but there are other things to do and see. You see regular people on the streets, not just drunken stag parties."

The red-light revamp is part of a larger cultural transformation asserting Amsterdam's place as one of the world's top cultural destinations.

The city of barely one million already boasts more than 50 museums, from the serious Anne Frank House to kitschy Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum and the macabre Torture Museum. Acomplete list can be found at www.amsterdam.info/museums.There are major plans in the works for the three most well-known museums that surround Museumplein square. While the massive Rijksmuseum undergoes renovation, to be completed in 2013, it is displaying a selection of its most famous Dutch masterworks, including many by Rembrandt such as the breathtaking Night Watch. The Stedelijk Museum, which houses Amsterdam's most important modern art collection, will reopen its doors next spring after a complete renovation and expansion.

This fall, the Van Gogh Museum will unveil an exhibit and accompanying five-volume book on the complete letters and sketches of its namesake -the most comprehensive such project ever for a major Dutch artist.

If there weren't enough art venues already, this summer marked the opening of the Hermitage Amsterdam, the first satellite of the Russian imperial museum in St. Petersburg. The museum is housed in a former retirement home that dates from the late 1600s, but only the facade was preserved -- the old, labyrinthine interior was gutted and replaced with an understated, modern space. Its first exhibition, At the Russian Court, features more than 1,800 paintings, costumes and artifacts from the height of the czars'reign and runs until January 2010.

If you plan to do some shopping, look for any cruises that stop near Dam Square and head toward the nine streets (www.theninestreets.com) that straddle Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht canals. Most of the dainty shops that line these cobble-stone streets are one of a kind.

Amsterdam is a Dutch treats for travellers

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